The perfect dream broke. I sat up on the couch, my shoulders
still paining because of the uncomfortable posture in which I slept. I was
sweating, I caressed my cold hands over my wet forehead and leaned back on the
couch. I closed my eyes as another cold sweat broke and took it's own sweet
time to caress my cheeks, and finally settling somewhere near my stubble. I
broke in a small grin.

'Do you plan to take
care of yourself, even for once!' she shouted as I leaned back onto our bed
with her in my arms. She hit me again playfully on the chest and caressed my
forehead.

'Arnav, you know you
scare me with all these, please, for me take your medicines on time, please?'
she widened her eyes and batted her eyelashes, her lips curved in a small
pretty smile. As if she needed to look any better.

'Sweetheart, I am
sorry, I will keep that in my mind. Now, go to sleep.' I tapped her slightly as
she wrapped her arms around me, snuggling in closer.

'Khusi,' I called out.
She stirred, and looked at me. 'A little bit further, you won't be able to
breath.' I showed how there was so little place between her face and my chest.

'It's okay, I like
this way,' she placed a quick kiss on my chest and regained her posture, I felt
her lips curve in a smile against the fabric.

I got up in a haste straightening my clothes and went out,
gulping a glass of juice.

* *

When I woke up, I felt dizzy, and I couldn't see properly. I
panicked thinking if something went wrong with my eyes, and as in a reflex
pulled my hand to see if something went into the eyes, when the numerous wire
like things acted on my hands. I looked beside me where the long rod stood, and
a clamp like thing, and some medicines, and trays, the dull white curtains, the
acidic sweet smell of medicines, and the constant pitter patter of the rain
against the window panes. I felt light headed as I felt something sting in my
head, and closed my eyes as the pain coursed into the veins, and then slowly
dared to open my eyes and blink my eyelashes to see everything clearly.

And then I felt what was stinging. I lifted the other hand
with difficulty to realize the bandage was wet, so it had been bleeding all
night. The nurse came and immediately took the bandage out, and replaced it
after drying and clearing the wound, and as much as I wanted to shout and
scream and pain as every time she touched the raw kind of fiber to my scalp, I
kept quietly repeating that it was just a wound, and nothing else.

Finally she was done, and Arnav come in, a beaming smile
playing gracefully on his lips, and I smiled back. My weary eyes shot open in
pain and I smiled harder, as he took the place beside me, and I pressed my hand
onto his, and he placed a kiss on forehead. The pain seemed to have
disappeared.

'I was talking to the doctor, I can take you home in a week.'
He was about to retreat back, when he intentionally grazed his lips on my
cheeks.

I never felt so helpless when I couldn't return the gesture.
He seemed to have brushed that thought aside as he took in the surroundings once
and then smiled again at me.

'How did you even manage to stay here for so long?' he
sarcastically noted. 'The place is so very dull!'

I sat on the kitchen
counter, which was now lit by the sole source of the single timid lamp that
fought the darkness alone, or, rather tried too. He was leaning back with his
legs crossed, as he scribbled on the notepad.

'Yellow curtains or
red?' he asked.

'Yellow seems better.'
But red is the choice. I mentally noted.

'So red then.' I could
only stare at him.

'Floral patterns or
abstract?'

'Abstract seems nice.'
But I love flowers.

'Floral is the choice
then.' He smirked this time.

'A kiss on the cheeks
or a kiss on the lips?'

'A kiss on the cheeks,
but I prefer that on the lips when we're alone.' The words slipped out, and I
bit my lip.

He burst out laughing
as I tried to make a straight face pretending to be angry. He stopped laughing,
his back turned towards me, and I was about to ask if something happened when
he turned around and kissed me just the way I wanted.

The lamp's glow
fainted even more, and all I could hear was his slow and struggled breath.

'And'I am staying with you tonight.'

'Why!' I coughed a bit, as he sprinted towards me and patted
me gently and adjusted the pillows.

'Do you wish to ignore me now Khusi? Did you forget me? Tell
me the truth, did you find someone else? I heard doctors here are handsome
much, maybe that's why some families choose government hospitals over private,
oh my god..' he took a deep breath in, and continued, 'Fine then, you can stay
alone, I will be going back home after the visiting hours.'

I wanted to laugh along with him, but the stinging pain hit
me again and all I could do was to smile a little, stressing on the jaws, and
clenching them as they started to pain, and I was rewarded as he stopped
laughing and smiled softly at me.

* *

He went home after much insistence. He pouted when I told
him I wanted to be alone, and said I was having an affair with my doctor. I
said to him that the doctor was much sexier than he was, when his color
changed. He kept quiet and I playfully tried
to laugh and insisted. He placed a kiss on my lips and said he would come
tomorrow.

When once again alone, I closed my eyes and cried. And to my
annoyance, I didn't know why.

* *

'Arnav,' she could
merely whisper. It was the weary silence and her voice cut through the air. He
looked up and once again trailed down to the dark circles underneath her eye.

'Yes.'

'Umm..it's nothing.' She
fidgeted with her dupatta before scurrying off from the room, leaving him
behind deep in thought.

* *

The constant rain after sometime seemed frustrating. I knew
how it sounded when it fell on the glass windows, and then on the panes, how
the cars downstairs sounded when they came to a halt abruptly. I knew how it
felt when the gust of wind against the rain shook the windows. I was tired of
the same melody. I wanted to get up, go out of the room, and breathe in some
fresh air'

Suddenly, my eyes blackened. I couldn't see properly, and
before I passed out, the same familiar honey coated shrill rang my ears and I
felt a sharp thing pierce my arm'.

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